Dear Thonny,

I’m struggling to balance my time between studying and rest. When I sleep instead of study, my grades suffer because I don’t know the material. When I study instead of sleep, my grades still suffer because I’m so tired I can’t focus. I don’t have any free time. I’m constantly stressed and all I want right now is a couple of hours of shut-eye, but I can’t because of all this homework. I’m falling apart and about to break. What do I do?

Sincerely,
A tired child

Dear tired child,

I have an easy solution for you: take some NyQuil and call it a day. Just kidding. But, jokes aside, taking care of yourself should always be your number one priority. You need to make sure you eat properly, drink enough water and sleep well. If you don’t, it will be difficult to tackle your other problems.

Everyone knows by now that adjusting to online school is a stressful process. It’s taking us all a lot longer to get used to this new type of schooling. The best thing we can all do is be patient with ourselves.

Teachers have become a lot more lenient and understanding during this time. Try letting them know how you feel. Your teacher might help you identify what you can do differently. You would also be doing them a favor by letting them know that the workload is becoming a bit much for students.

If you don’t have free time, I suggest that you figure out what’s taking up
most of your time. Putting together a schedule that includes time for work and clubs but also time to do your homework and study is a really great way to find some balance.

You can also try completing your homework in chunks. Start your homework and then take a break or try to get other things done. Repeat this until all of your homework is finished. It might take longer, but you won’t feel as drained and tired in the end.

Another way is studying for about 10-15 minutes every night and not cramming the night before a test. You can also try to set reasonable goals to have completed by the end of each day.

There are so many ways to study, from the Pomodoro Technique to just cramming. Everyone’s minds are different but none of them are wrong, so find what works for you.

Good luck,
Thonny